Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound
Baldur's Gate III: The Black Hound was the sequel to Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal and was to be the third entry in the Dungeons & Dragons Baldur's Gate series and was to be developed by Black Isle Studios. It was codenamed FR6 and Project Jefferson, this is what it was revealed to be for the public. The game was announced in 2002 and was said to use the 3rd Edition D&D Ruleset. The game was set to use a new 3D Engine that was based of BioWare's Aurora Engine, BioWare's successor to the Infinity Engine, this engine, aptly named Jefferson was to be Black Isle Studio's successor to the Infinity Engine. Black Isle Studio's was taking over development from the previous Baldur's Gate developers, BioWare. The game appeared to be canceled in 2003 when its engine was announced to have been used for Black Isle Studios Van Buren (Fallout 3). However with Van Buren's cancellation, the Jefferson engine was never used for any game. The games motto would have been: "You cannot kill guilt". Plot The player character would have been resting at his campsite, which he set up to seek shelter from a rainstorm, when cleric named May Farrow chasing a Black Hound crashes in, she kills the hound which dies on the player's lap. Accusing the player of being in league with the dog, she is about to kill the player as well, but the Riders of Archendale arrive and scare her off and question the player. After a brief inquisition, the local magistrates tell the player not to wander far because they may have more questions. And so begins the players quest to find out who the mad cleric was, what this has to do with him/her, why a black spirit hound now follows him/her around, and why can’t people just leave the player character alone and do things for themselves. The game would not have been a sequel to Baldur's Gate II in terms of story but rather gameplay, however, it did continue part of story of Icewind Dale II through joinable NPC's, specifically Maralie Fiddlebender, who would have been an adult in the story. Gameplay As revealed in several interviews, but most prominently in the one with Winterwind Productions, the gameplay of the game was revealed. It would have used the same gameplay as the previous Baldur's Gate games, just updated to fit the 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons Ruleset, meaning it would have been turn-based. While the strategy of the gameplay would have been that of the previous Baldur's Gate games, elements from other games such as the Temple of Elemental Evil would have been borrowed. The game was said to be truly non-linear, with the player able to go wherever he/she wants, do whatever he/she wants, whenever he/she wants and however ever he/she wants to. However, everything the player id would have had a repercussions for the player's actions in the game. If the player is assigned a quest and fails/doesn't complete it, the actions for that would haunt the player later on in the game. The player would have full control over character creation, from appearance, to skills, to actions. It would not matter whether the game was level based or skill based, the player would have had full control of their character. Unlike previous games, the player was able to switch between lawful good, chaotic evil, neutral phases depending on his actions in the game. This would have also reacquired the player character to make difficult decisions which could affect their reputation with one group in order to maintain their reputation with another. Trilogy Before its cancellation, a trilogy of Black Hound games were planned. The decisions of the character in the game would have affected the story of the second Black Hound game, a feature used in the Mass Effect series.